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Roman Empire
The Roman Empire, modeled after the real world example, is easily the most powerful political presence in the known world. Spanning from the furthest west coast of Europe to the Dead Sea in the east, from the northern border of the Sahara in the south to the coast of Normandy in the north. Culture Somewhere between uniform and diverse, the Roman Empire is one of striation. Upper classes, the Patricians, tend to keep to themselves. Functioning mostly as business owners, political leaders, and investors, the Patrician class does little to interfere or interact with the Plebeians - the lower classes. Often, this is the social class that owns slaves. They are the ones who will push for gladetorial matches, typically using slaves within the arenas. The Plebeians make up the lower classes of the Roman Empire. These sorts are usually the merchants, craftsmen, servants, and laborers of Patricians who prefer not to keep slaves. Generally stifled within cities with low wages, the Plebeians have little to no hope to raise their own status beyond invention and a more then exemplary military career. Slavery is common within the Empire to the point where it's more odd for a Patrician to not own slaves than it is otherwise. Slaves make up the majority of the laborers amongst those who keep them and are the primary source of gladiators within the arenas. While it is possible to buy your own freedom, it's intentionally difficult. Slaves make little to no money themselves, but are given multiple chances to earn their own freedom. At some point within a gladiator's career, they are given the opportunity to enter a match which will grant them their freedom. On the other side of that coin, such a match is always deadly and is always far more difficult than a standard match. Magic Magically, the Roman Empire is fairly diverse, specializing only in the Animal college. Roman magi will often be kennel owners and beast masters. They function as animal control and seem to prefer solitude over sentient companionship. At it's core, however, magic is a craftsman's skill. Technology Magitek is a major cornerstone in technological development. Most machinery will use a powerstone as a source of energy for the machine itself. Clockwork, while not common, is becoming more and more mainstream as time passes. Sailing ships are available, but not often used, as domestic issues involving uprising and invasions from Gaul are far more pressing. Update: the threat of invasion from the east has further pushed Rome away from sailing technology. Medicine remains somewhat backwards, remaining something akin to medieval medicine. The exception being the addition of magic into the mix. With magitek being on the forefront in other areas, many a doctor will simply be a mage specialized in the healing school rather than one who knows much about the body beyond how magic affects it. Roman doctors are often quite aware of mana addiction, but do little to actually cure it, if such is even possible. Rather, they tend to provide crystalized mana - manastones - to individuals who have severe cases of mana addiction. This tends to further ensnare the addict within their addiction, requiring that they have more, which, in turn, pushes them back to their doctor for more manastones, which tend to not be cheep. This cycle is often the first step toward slavery for an addict. Military Weapons within the Roman Empire are of the highest quality - and tech - in the world. Using a standard barrel for a musket, Roman musketmen eschew black powder in favor of a fire-charged powerstone, which explodes when the trigger is pulled. After firing, a full minute is required for recharge on the stone before firing is possible. Rather than carrying gladius, however, a typical musketman will carry a sidearm - dragoon heavy pistols are common. Failing both of those, a musketman wears cestus for close combat. Musketment will often wear brigandine armor, less head cover beyond a wide brimmed hat. Another common unit amongst the Roman Empire - heavy infantry - is found alongside musketmen. Heavy infantry makes up the front lines. They are the basis of the standard "turtle" tactic used by the Roman military. These troops are often found armed with a gladius, dragoon heavy pistol, tower shields and cestus, wearing brigandine if lower rank up through laquered steel plate at higher rank. Cavalry within the Roman military is somewhat limited. Rather than using dragoons or mounted knights, Roman soldiers will use a horse drawn chariot with a mounted puckle gun, a normally wall defense using standard lead balls for ammunition. Puckle guns will often use a fire-charged single use mana stone per clip, requiring them to only load new ammunition rather than ejecting the used mana stone. Roman battle magi are often feramancers and shapeshifters. They are often artillery in the loosest sense of the term, shapeshifting into a massive animal and smashing down fortifications. When not faced with a siege, however, they tend to prefer a more predatory form. Category:Politics